The Evolution of Consciousness, Part One
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.
“In mystic cosmology, the seven lokas, or upper worlds, correspond to the seven higher chakras. The seven talas, or lower worlds, correspond to the chakras below the base of the spine. Man is thus a microcosm of the universe, or macrocosm. The spine is the axis of his being, as Mount Meru is the axis of the world, and the fourteen chakras are portals into the fourteen worlds, or regions of consciousness. The actinodic life force within the sushumṇā current runs up and down the spine and becomes very powerful when the iḍā and piṅgalā, or the odic forces, are balanced. Then man becomes completely actinodic. He doesn’t feel, in a sense, that he has a body at that particular time. He feels he is just a being suspended in space, and during those times his anāhata and viśuddha chakras are spinning and vibrating. When, through the practice of very intense, sustained states of contemplation, he merges into pure states of superconsciousness, the iḍā and the piṅgalā form a circle. They meet, and the pituitary and the pineal glands at the top of the head also merge their energies. This produces deep samādhi.”
Serving the Dharmic Religions #2 – Jainism
Over the last year, our publications team in Kauai has been quietly working on a sizable side project sponsored by the Uberoi Foundation. The project is intended to assist in the presentation of the four Dharmic faiths, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, as per the foundation’s goal. This particular video is meant to teach the Jain religion in California 6th grade social studies classes. The Jain Center of Southern California (JCSC) located in Buena Park, California, is a non-profit religious organization to pursue a goal of practicing, promoting and preserving the Jain religion. Started in 1979, the present center of 13,000 sq. ft. was opened in 2008 to accommodate the growing Jain population. The exterior design of the center is inspired and reminiscent of ancient Jain temples of Delwada, Ranakpur and Paliana Tirths. Carved Jesalmer yellow limestone was designed and produced in India for the exterior of the building, and the interior uses natural stone including white marble and colorful granite. Each video will allow students to experience these temples as a digital school tour, when visiting them in person might not be possible.
Directed by Mainak Dhar, Produced by Gabriel Bruskoff.
Hibiscus Transplanting
Out near Hanuman and the rudraksha grove lies a huge pile of dirt brought in by the state project due to widening the main road. We are hoping their team can push the dirt south into the pasture so we have room to work on the parking lot preparations. There is a berm behind this pile with 200 feet of hibiscus planted, so we spent two mornings to transplant nearly 70 plants to another location near the monastery main buildings. Now the space is cleared for the dirt pile to be moved over.
Granite Bell Tower Installation – Part 1
Jai Ganesha!
Over the last few days we've seen the first major steps of the installation of the Redwood Granite Bell Tower that is being built near Iraivan Temple's Temple Builder's Pavilion. For over a year, this hand-carved masterpiece has been in the works as a side project of the Ganapati Kulam and under the oversight of Acharya Kumarnathaswami, who has done most of the woodworking himself.
For those that don't know, this tower hangs a granite bell that was carved on the same stone of Iraivan Temple. When struck with a wooden mallet, it produces a unique evanescence that only reverberating stone could make.
Rudrakshas Arrive from Nepal
Nepal is the major supplier of Rudraksha beads to the world, and we did a feature story about that in Hinduism Today last fall. The story was told by journalist and photographer Nikki Tapar, who flew to the valley where most of the trees are grown to discover the amazing details for the feature article. For instance, did you know that the sale of the beads represents fully 6% of the nation's Gross National Product? Or that a single bead sold at auction for $84,000?
Since we have the West's only Rudraksha Forest here at the monastery, we have a special interest in the trees and their fruits. Nikki sent us some Nepalese beads, and we discovered they are different than ours, lighter in color and somewhat more detailed in texture.
So, we commissioned Nikki to acquire seedlings. She flew back to the valley and bought 16 saplings, about 3 feet tall, carrying them back to her home in Kathmandu. She and Sadasivanathaswami went through some months of permitting, planning, and preparing the trees for the flight to Kauai.
They arrived at the monastery yesterday, and the box was unpacked. The tall saplings had been pruned short for the shipping, but we are assured they will recover soon and in about 4 years, we will have our first harvest of these special botanical gems. And make them available in the MiniMela.
At the end of the slideshow, there is a QR Code leading to the full magazine article.
Thank you, Nikki, for your amazing help (and tenacity) with this international exchange of DNA.
Spinning Wheels of Consciousness, Part Four
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.
"The same cyclical pattern of development in human history is evident even more clearly in the growth of the individual. In the seven cycles of a man’s life, beginning at the time of his birth, his awareness automatically flows through one of these chakras and then the next one, then the next and then the next, provided he lives a pure life, following Sanātana Dharma under the guidance of a satguru. ¶In reality, most people never make it into the higher four chakras, but instead regress back time and again into the chakras of reason, instinctive will, memory, anger, fear and jealousy. Nevertheless, the natural, ideal pattern is as follows. From one to seven years of age man is in the mūlādhāra chakra. He is learning the basics of movement, language and society—absorbing it all into an active memory. The patterns of his subconscious are established primarily in these early years. From seven to fourteen he is in the svādhishṭhāna chakra. He reasons, questions and asks, “Why? Why? Why?” He wants to know how things work. He refines his ability to think for himself. Between fourteen and twenty-one he comes into his willpower. He does not want to be told what to do by anyone. His personality gets strong, his likes and dislikes solidify. He is on his way now, an individual answerable to no one. Generally, about this time he wants to run away from home and express himself. From twenty-one to twenty-eight he begins assuming responsibilities and gaining a new perspective of himself and the world. Theoretically, he should be in anāhata, the chakra of cognition, but a lot of people never make it. They are still in the bull-in-the-china-shop consciousness, crashing their way through the world in the expression of will, asking why, reasoning things out and recording it in memory patterns which they go over year after year after year."
Through the Lens – Kauai Aadheenam
Om Namah Shivaya
We recently received another set of photos from Rajen, who is currently here from Mauritius. He's been exploring around the Aadheenam, taking photos here and there. Enjoy!
Showing our Taskforcer Some of the South Side
We took SSC sishya and current taskforcer Rajen Manick out to see some more of Kauai, this time a oceanside walk in the area around Shipwreck's Beach in Koloa/Poipu. Stunning vistas awaited, and Rajen practiced his photography.
TAYUMANAVAR POEM
We have just finished our second pass through the 1,454 songs of Tayumanavar, a task that took almost daily sessions of two hours for over a year. Yea!
To celebrate, we offer you one of the songs in our English and also in the original Tamil. Plus a BEFORE/AFTER slider of one of the ten works of art our Kerala muralist completed for the project. This will give insight into the process from idea to sketch to final color on canvas. Just move the slider right and left.
CANTO FIFTY-FIVE
அகவல்
The Call
Song 1
O perfection-fullness that came in guru's form, filled with knowledge supreme and replete with grace divine! You who stood undivided as One! You of blemishless form pure!
You, the ever undiminished Being and ocean of goodness. You are the beginning; You are the end. You are the bliss; You are the light. You are the truth; You are the endless first Being. Out of Your divine grace You created the earth and all the worlds. Out of the four birth sources 1 You created the seven life genera.2
And so that species could multiply, You created bodies from atoms to mountains, and time, from moment to eon. And as their past karmas deserve, You created the conditions for the life-mass to live for awhile, albeit they have no knowledge of their own and are helpless. Whatever bodies in which they were born, they are happy to be and wish not to part. Towards that end You instilled the love instinct in them and fostered growth, making them feel their body is they.
Thus were they filled with ignorance seeming like knowledge. You fixed time, karma and order, along with hell and high heaven, in impartiality to reach. In endless love You established innumerable faiths, that they might pursue the four ends: dharma, artha and the rest.3 Then, as guru, You imparted knowledge, with each faith contending their own stand as the ultimate truth. Thus arose disputations and scriptures numerous.
In all these You invariably stood beyond, above all faiths. All the celestials and the munis offered themselves. Praying for You to accept them in grace, they hankered for You. In return, You showed them the blemishless wisdom. And to me, who has no wisdom, it is for You to show Your compassionate grace.
Notes:
1. Birth sources refers to egg, sweat, seed and womb.
2. The seven genera refers to celestials, humans, animals, birds, reptiles, aquatic life and plants.
3. Dharma, artha and the rest is a reference to the purusharthas: virtue, wealth, love and liberation.
திருவருள் ஞானஞ் சிறந்தருள் கொழிக்குங்
குருவடி வான குறைவிலா நிறைவே
நின்ற ஒன்றே நின்மல வடிவே
குன்றாப் பொருளே குணப்பெருங் கடலே
ஆதியும் அந்தமும் ஆனந்த மயமாஞ்
சோதியே சத்தே தொலைவிலா முதலே
சீர்மலி தெய்வத் திருவரு ளதனால்
பார்முத லண்டப் பரப்பெலாம் நிறுவி
அண்டசம் முதலாம் எண்தரு நால்வகை
ஏழு பிறவியில் தாழா தோங்கும்
அனந்த யோனியில் இனம்பெற மல்க
அணுமுத லசல மான ஆக்கையுங்
கணமுத லளவிற் கற்ப காலமுங்
கன்மப் பகுதித் தொன்மைக் கீடா
இமைப்பொழு தேனுந் தமக்கென அறிவிலா
ஏழை உயிர்த்திரள வாழ அமைத்தனை
எவ்வுடல் எடுத்தார் அவ்வுடல் வாழ்க்கை
இன்ப மெனவே துன்ப மிலையெனப்
பிரியா வண்ணம் உரிமையின் வளர்க்க
ஆதர வாகக் காதலும் அமைத்திட்
டூக மின்றியே தேகம் நானென
அறிவு போலறி யாமை இயக்கிக்
காலமுங் கன்மமுங் கட்டுங் காட்டியே
மேலும் நரகமும் மேதகு சுவர்க்கமும்
மாலற வகுத்தனை ஏலும் வண்ணம்
அமையாக் காதலிற் சமய கோடி
அறம்பொரு ளாதி திறம்படு நிலையில்
குருவா யுணர்த்தி யொருவர்போ லனைவருந்
தத்தம் நிலையே முத்தி முடிவென
வாத தர்க்கமும் போத நூல்களும்
நிறைவிற் காட்டியே குறைவின்றி வயங்க
அங்கங்கு நின்றனை எங்கு மாகிச்
சமயா தீதத் தன்மை யாகி
இமையோர் முதலிய யாவரும் முனிவருந்
தம்மைக் கொடுத்திட்டெம்மை யாளென
ஏசற் றிருக்க மாசற்ற ஞான
நலமும் காட்டினை ஞானமி லேற்கு
நிலையுங் காட்டுதல் நின்னருட் கடனே.
Chellappaswami Temple Renovation
Jai Kailasa Parampara!
We recently received a note and these photos from Rishi Thondunathan. Utilizing a donation from the Aadheenam, Sri Lankan craftsmen renovated the small shrine to Chellappaswami (the location of his hut) which is near Nallur Temple.
"With your kind contribution, we were able to renovate the Chellappa Swami Temple in Nallur. We replaced the marble tiles in the shrine with granite, repaired the walls and painted the temple. Additionally, we replaced the old pictures of the Guru Parampara with new ones. Thank you so much for your love and generosity. Enclosed are a few pictures of the temple." - Thondunathan
Aum Namah Sivaya
From Our Gurus' Teachings
Archives are now available through 2001. Light colored days have no posts. 1998-2001 coming later.